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In New York City, some 65 percent of adult residents have now been fully vaccinated against COVID-19. But among the city’s 340,000 or so employees, that rate is lower. Only about 50 percent of rank-and-file firefighters and EMTs are vaccinated, and among teachers the rate, as of late June, was just 60 percent.
So Mayor Bill de Blasio (who changed his name from Warren Wilhelm, Jr.), concerned about a rise in cases involving the Delta variant, announced on 21 July a new program that may incentivize some of those workers to get their shots.
Jab or Hassle; Take Your Pick
The incentive, as reported 22 July by The New York Times, is that, if they remain unvaccinated, they will be required to submit to weekly testing for the virus. At first, the new program will target only the over 40,000 workers at public hospitals, plus Health Dept. employees who work in healthcare settings, but the mayor considers it a pilot program which he hopes will be expanded if it proves effective. Essentially, it is hoped that workers will prefer vaccination to the inconvenience of weekly testing.
And yesterday, saying that “the Delta variant has thrown us a curveball,” deBlasio expanded the city’s vaccination-or-test mandate to cover the entire city workforce.
Among the city’s 3.4 million unvaccinated persons are some 1.4 million unvaccinated children. The mayor is imploring parents of children who are 12 yrs. old and over to have them vaccinated; so far, younger children are ineligible, but the city plans to re-open its schools in September and everyone will be required to wear a mask. Trends Journal has for some time questioned the wisdom of vaccinating children; see February 2021’s “VAX FACTS BANNED BY MEDIA.”
A number of city workers’ unions stand in opposition to mandatory vaccination, but have so far not objected to the mayor’s testing program. In December 2020 Trends Journal reported on New York legislators calling for mandatory vaccination statewide: “VACCINE COULD BE MANDATORY IN NEW YORK STATE.”
The NYT article also reports that San Francisco intends to require all of its 35,000 employees to be vaccinated, and that Los Angeles now mandates masks indoors, even for vaccinated persons.
TRENDPOST: The San Francisco Bar Owner Alliance, representing more than 500 bar owners, has announced that its members are “choosing to keep their staff and patrons safe” (and “not necessarily taking a moral stand on vaccination”), to which end an updated policy will require indoor bar patrons to provide proof of vaccination.
Starting yesterday, the California city of Montclair, has demanded that all city workers who choose not to wear a mask must wear stickers that prove they are vaccinated with the COVID Jab.
TREND FORECAST: The new “no vax-no jobs-no freedom” dictates that are being imposed across the globe by politicians will put long term downward pressure on economies. By refusing the COVID Jab, there will be sizable segments of society who will not travel, go to restaurants, night clubs, museums, theater, events, etc.
And as we had forecast over a year ago, many among this sector will unite to form anti-vax, anti-establishment movements and new political parties worldwide. Indeed, as the 23 February Trends Journal cover illustrates: World War Vax has begun.
Indeed, the division between the vaxxed and unvaxxed widened yesterday when a joint statement from 56 healthcare associations which includes the American Medical Association, the American College of Physicians, the American Nurses Association, the American Academy of Pediatrics, the American College of Surgeons and the American Public Health Association decreed: “As the health care community leads the way in requiring vaccines for our employees, we hope all other employers across the country will follow our lead and implement effective policies to encourage vaccination,”
“The health and safety of U.S. workers, families, communities, and the nation depends on it,” they declared.
Thus, while a substantial majority of its membership will follow the dictates, a “irate, tireless minority, keen on setting brushfires of freedom in the minds of men and women” will fight for freedom of choice.